2018 Tire Rack Oscoda ProSolo Fast Notes

The final regular-season event of the 2018 Tire Rack ProSolo® season brought more than 200 drivers to the shores of Lake Huron in Oscoda, Michigan. Weather played a small role in the weekend as moderate temperatures and dry skies kept the competitors fighting for more with each session.

The competition started with the indexed Ladies classes, as is tradition. Katie Barrett of L2 bumped into L3 for the weekend. Michelle Knoll led for the duration of the weekend, but the battle for second heated up as the weekend went on. Knoll’s co-driver, Jen Fox, found time on Sunday morning to contend, but Barrett held onto second. The three qualified for the Ladies Challenge, along with Top Qualifier, Shelly Monfort, from L1. Knoll and Fox faced each other in the first round, with Fox overcoming her co-driver to advance. On the other side of the bracket, Monfort advanced on Barrett’s red light. As Monfort and Fox faced off in the Top Eliminator round, Fox took a 0.083-second advantage as the ladies switched sides. As they finished, it was Monfort coming back to take the Ladies Challenge victory by just 0.050 second.

On Saturday, C Street looked like it’d be a repeat of other events this season with DJ Alessandrini taking an early lead. But, on Sunday morning, it was co-driver Dennis Barrett who found time on his final run to take the win by 0.115 second. Michael Jeffries claimed the final trophy in third.

In Solo Spec Coupe, Tony Savini took the early lead, but David Potocki gradually chipped away at the margin, ultimately taking the class win by 0.257 second over Savini. Jeff Jacobs also found time on Sunday morning, landing him in third place with Steven Berrodin in the fourth and final trophy position. In the first year of SSC competition, 15 drivers have qualified for tiers 1 and 2 of ProSolo Finale registration. Seven drivers have done the same in L4, the class’ ladies counterpart.

John Vitamvas took the early lead in S3, but Andrew Blasiman jumped ahead on his final run on Saturday and found even more time on Sunday morning. Despite also finding time in his final runs, Vitamvas finished the weekend in second, 0.193 second away from the win. Co-drivers PJ Corrales and Bryan Mancuso finished in third and fourth respectively for the final trophies.

The weekend ended in excitement as the Super Challenge ended in an all-Kart Modified Top Eliminator battle between class winner, Larry MacLeod, and Ryan Lower. After breaking out in the first round, Lower had a slightly more difficult dial-in. The result was a very challenging tree and slight advantage towards MacLeod. As the pair of karts switched sides, Lower had the advantage by 0.265 second. But as they finished their second runs, MacLeod came sliding through the finish lights, barely avoiding a spin and the finish line cones. But his effort was worth it as he took the win by a narrow margin. As he brought the kart to a sliding stop behind the timing trailer, MacLeod jumped into the air before running back to grid to hug his children, who both competed with him this weekend.

The Tire Rack ProSolo season concludes in Lincoln, Nebraska September 1-2 at the invitational Tire Rack ProSolo Finale.